Weekend in the Highlands

I joined the Edinburgh International Students Club on a weekend trip to the Highlands. Our first stop was at the Hermitage, which is where I saw this little bridge.

The Hermitage is a forested area in Dunkeld.

We were on a bus of about 50 international students and we had a Scottish tour guide who knew a great deal of history-- and he was very entertaining too (wearing a kilt the entire weekend, of course!). We visited Culloden Battlefield, where the Jacobites were defeated by the Hanovarian British in 1746.

After the Battle of Culloden, many of the traditions of Scotland were banned by England-- including the wearing of kilts and speaking Gaelic-- in an attempt to crush the spirit of the Scots.

We also visited this really strange site called Clootie Well. The well here was said to have had healing powers because of its minerals, so sick people would come here, drink the water, and then tie a small piece of clothing onto one of the nearby trees. By the time the clothing fell off, the person would be healed. As you can see, there are hundreds of little pieces of clothing attached to branches all around the well to this day.

That evening, we arrived at Carbisdale Castle, our hostel for the night. It is SUCH a beautiful place!

The entrance to the castle

This is the Great Hall, where we had dinner and breakfast in the morning. We also had a ceilidh later Saturday evening in the ballroom upstairs. It was so much fun to explore the rooms of the castle before going to bed.

I found a kitty in the castle's library!

Sunrise from the castle walls

Castle Urquhart ruins on the edge of Loch Ness
We had such beautiful weather on Loch Ness... but no sightings of Nessie this time!

Me and my friend Evonne, whose parents are Chinese, but she was born in South Africa, raised in Ottawa, works in Ghana during the summer, and goes to school in Edinburgh!
Much of our time during the weekend was spent gazing out the windows of our bus at the amazing Highland countryside-- we covered a lot of ground in two days.

The river at Glencoe

More Highland views


We stopped in a small town to get some lunch, and I found this handmade soap shop with a wool mill next door.

Another shot of Glencoe, where in the winter of 1692 the Battle of Glencoe took place. It was the first time the British army used one Highland clan against another Highland clan to do its bidding, and the results were devastating (the Campbells sided with the British against the MacDonalds). There is still a degree of hostility between the MacDonalds and Campbells, even if it's not completely serious-- outside the Clachaig Inn, which is a hotel and pub in Glencoe, there is a sign that reads, "No Hawkers or Campbells."